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They even dated other people but no one would keep up with their situation with Nandini so they gave up on it, eventually. Nandini started asking them questions when she grew up a little like 'Why couldn't they all live together?', 'Why weren't they married?', and so on but they handled her in their own way. Afterall, they had years of practice in dealing with such questions.
Avni and Arjun still slept with each other occasionally after having a drink or two but it never went further than that. It was almost as if they were afraid to jinx the sync, they had set up for themselves and Nandini.
This continued till the day came when at Nandini's tenth birthday Avni decided that she wanted to adopt Saeesha, a six-year-old girl from the orphanage, they went once in a year at Nandini's birthday. Arjun was sceptical of this at first but he realized that he did not have that kind of say in Avni's life so he decided to support her this as well. He proposed that they could co-parent Saeesha as well, for which Avni was very glad and accepted it instantly.
After a couple of months Avni and Arjun welcomed Saeesha into Avni's home. Nandini was excited to have a little sister but unfortunately that wasn't reciprocated from Saeesha's side. Saeesha felt threated by Nandini's presence because she was the biological daughter of the people who had adopted her. Avni, Arjun and Nandini, collectively, tried to change that feeling in Saeesha's heart but it did not make a difference.
Nandini felt so lonely and upset in her own home that she grew tired of Saeesha's bitterness and decided to go away for high school in Dehradun. Avni and Arjun rejected her idea of moving away, promptly, not because she told them the reason behind her wish but because they did not want their daughter to move away from them. They weren't ready to let go of their baby-girl yet. Although, Nandini did manage to wear them down and moved far away to a boarding school in Dehradun.
Nandini's going away did more than she had wished for. Avni and Arjun had a hard time in dealing with Nandini's absence. They tried to cope with it by giving all of their attention to Saeesha who in turn was leaving behind her insecurities with all the love.
With Nandini gone, Saeesha realized how much she liked having a big sister which is why they bonded a lot when Nandini came back home for her summer holidays after eleventh grade. Nandini saw how close her parents had gotten to each other so she fixated on her decision of keeping a little distance.
That worked again and when she went back to her home after her twelfth board exams. she could tell that her parents were falling in love with each other. Also, the fact that Arjun and Avni moved in together was a big selling point.
Back to the present, Nandini never grew bitter about how her going away had helped her parents come closer. Rather she was glad to do whatever she could to keep her little family together. This way she even found amazing friends for herself so she was content with her decisions. But she, never failed to tease Arjun about how he never even tried to come closer when she was in Pune and how he moved in to their home right after she moved out.
"How did I raise you to become such a mean little woman?" Arjun questioned with a wary expression on his face.
"Don't know, Appa. You tell me!" Nandini teased him with a grin. He rolled his eyes at her and tugged her wrist to hug her. Nandini smilingly walked into his protective hold and breathed when he bussed the top of her head with a kiss.
"Now, that's what we call a scenic reunion." the little family looked up to find all of Nandini's friends at a little distance from them with Abhimanyu and Mukti leading them. Abhimanyu commented that making them smile at him.
"Sorry Masi! I am here to steal my sister away. You can catch up with her, later tonight." Abhimanyu apologized to Avni, while informing her about his intentions of coming there.
"Where exactly are you stealing away my daughter, if I may ask?" Arjun quizzed with a hand around Nandini's shoulder.
"Barbeque dinner, uncle! Out in the lawn, alongside a warm bonfire. God knows, when will we get a chance like this again, in the future so we just wanna make full use of this." Mukti answered on behalf of their entire friends' group. After years of being together, Mukti had gotten really close with Abhimanyu's family as well.
"Good! You kids have fun. Nandu, come to our room after you're done with them. We want to spend some time with you before the functions start tomorrow." Arjun said to Nandini and she looked at her mother at the exact moment to find her nod in agreement.
"What about me? I'll get bored here with the oldies." Saeesha whined, earning herself a smack on the head from Avni for calling her an oldie. Avni was just 48 years old so no one was allowed to call her aged until she crosses 50, at least.
"Oww..." Saeesha winced, rubbing her head.
"Mumma, don't hit her! And you little devil, come with us. Text Rohit and Harshi to come as well. They can keep you company." Nandini was a protective elder sister, which was one of the things Saeesha absolutely loved about her so when Nandini chided Avni to not hit her, it made Saeesha grin like an idiot. Saeesha texted Rohit and Harshita (Mukti's cousins), like Nandini asked her to, who she had befriended over their many family dinners. Succeeding that, both the sisters walked towards Nandini's friends while Arjun and Avni joined the rest of them on the sun-loungers like earlier.
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"Where's Manik?" Cabir walked up to Dhruv and Nandini who were standing by the grill and asked them. Nandini, being the chef of their clan, had taken up the cooking job and Dhruv being himself, decided to give Nandini a hand in her work. Cabir was bored because all of them were busy doing something and since Navya hadn't accompanied him given the pregnancy and everything, Cabir had nothing to do. He was looking for Manik to catch up with him but Manik hadn't come downstairs ever since he had checked into his room after reaching there.
"I haven't seen him since we reached here." Nandini informed him as she picked the skewers from the grill, circumspectly, before placing them on the plate that Dhruv was holding out for her. Nandini was aware of Randhir's gaze on her as he heard Manik's name near her but she did not bother to look up in his direction.
"I heard him talking over his phone about picking someone from the airport. So, maybe he's gone out there." Dhruv enlightened both, Cabir and Nandini. Dhruv had heard Manik, a couple of hours ago when he saw Manik heading towards the exit of their hotel.
"Who isn't here yet?" Cabir questioned what was also on Nandini's mind. As far as she knew, all of the guests were here then who was Manik picking up from the airport.
"Only Alya comes to my mind. But I'm not sure if Abhi or Mukti invited her so don't know." Dhruv shrugged but Nandini tensed up immediately. Fortunately, the guys did not notice the change in her demeanour. Nandini knew that Alya was invited because Mukti and she sent out the invitations together but she did not think that Alya would accept it because she hadn't come to Cabir and Navya's wedding as well, just like Manik. Nandini did not understand, what made her so uncomfortable about Alya's arrival but she hated to feel this way. Alya was one of her closest friends after Manik, five years ago. If she could connect with Manik and feel so content in his company then why did Alya's name bother her?
"Wow! I'm feeling so bored man. Randhir is talking to Mukti and Abhi about some finances, you two are busy cooking and Navya isn't here. I thought irritating Manik could help me pass time but he isn't here as well." Cabir's selfish motives behind wanting to have Manik around, made Dhruv and Nandini chuckle. It reminded them of how Cabir acted like a huge pain in the ass, back in college, with Manik until he'd chase Cabir through the college and gift him with a punch or two.
"Have this! Damn yummy!" Dhruv forwarded the plate to Cabir only to get smacked by Nandini.
"I knew it, you are stealing my food! Can't you wait for a little while? This is for all of us to eat together." Nandini sort of scolded Dhruv.
"Such a mommy!" Cabir remarked and hi-fied Dhruv making Nandini scowl at the boys.
"That's it! No food for you two, tonight. Get lost from here." Nandini rebuked them with a frown. Dhruv set the plate down and stood beside Cabir.
"Once a mommy, always a mommy." Cabir and Dhruv yelled at her in a childish tone and sprinted away from there before she could poke them with the skewers in her hand.
After Cabir and Dhruv escaped from there, Nandini felt a little lonely but she was doing what she loved so that feeling did not linger for more than a moment. She even found herself working faster than before. Turns out, Dhruv wasn't helping her that much after all. He was just slowing her down. Once, she was done with her skewers, she put the patties on the grill for the burgers and hamburgers. She couldn't find the tongs on the table so she crouched down to look for them in the bag under the table. She found the tongs in two minutes and got up to only bump into a muscular frame.
"Jeez!" Nandini muttered as she realized that it was Manik who was standing so close to her. He might not have guessed that she'd get up in that direction. He smiled at her flushed expression before taking a step back. There were people around and he did not want Nandini to feel embarrassed of anything.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you." Manik apologized, sincerely.
"It's okay!" Nandini muttered to him with a nod and turned towards the grill. She had to flip the patties and she indulged herself into doing that. Manik made a face at her sudden indifference. Manik could not put a finger on something he might have done to upset her then why did her face scream that she was maybe upset with him.
"What's with you?" Manik asked her. He tore open the packet of the buns for burgers to cut them up, causing Nandini to smile a little at his actions. He always made an effort to help people when he could and made it seem effortless. She adored that even in the past and to see that it still was a habit of his, just made her feel proud.
"I asked you something, Alice." Manik nudged her while slicing the buns. A laugh erupted out of her, involuntarily, as she remembered how he used to call her 'Alice' whenever she'd get lost into her own world. Her giggle did make Manik feel better about her behaviour as he realized the reason behind it.
"That hasn't happened in a long time." Nandini mentioned referring to someone calling her 'Alice'.
"What? Did you stop zoning out into wonderlands in these five years?" Manik puzzled, rhetorically, because he knew that it was next to impossible that she could stop zoning out while being in the middle of a conversation with someone.
"You know, you are the only one who doesn't get annoyed about this habit of mine." Nandini let him know with a smile. Everyone in Nandini's life including Jeanette, Randhir and her family, hated her habit of slipping into another world while still in a conversation with them. They even reprimanded her countless times for it but she could never help herself out of it.
"It used to irritate me in the beginning, when we first met. But with time, I just sort of learnt to live with it." He told her with a chortle.
"Well, thanks for putting up with it." Nandini thanked him, dramatically as she bowed down a little.
"My pleasure, milady." Manik responded with a stupid grin.
"You still haven't told me, what's bothering you?" Manik added and almost as if on cue, Nandini's eyes connected with Randhir who was glaring in their direction.
"Nothing! Maybe, I'm tired. That's all." Nandini said looking away from Randhir. She did not like to hold his gaze. It made her feel giddy. She knew that she wasn't answerable to him, anymore yet she could not feel guilt-free. She berated herself, internally for feeling this way. She wasn't the kind of woman who'd do everything the man in her life asks her to and this wasn't even her man, now. She should not hold back just because Randhir couldn't handle it. It was not her problem so she should ignore this feeling and do whatever pleased her.
"I know that we aren't the same best friends, anymore but I'd like to reinforce a bunch of our old rules like no lying to each other. If you don't wanna talk about it, then just say that. I'd understand and give you the space. Just don't lie to me." Manik's words caused her to look directly into his eyes. She did not know why but she could feel him accusing her of making everything about Randhir. Manik and she never talked freely about Randhir because of the obvious tension between the two guys that went back to their days in college. So, it was possible that Manik felt like Nandini made everything about Randhir even back then when she turned down the offer to work in Bangalore. He never said that to her and he probably never will but she could read it in his eyes, this time. He wanted their friendship to be different this time, like the kind which won't get affected by their romantic relationships yet here she was doing the same thing again.
"I'll tell you. Just not here or now." Nandini simply uttered that but Manik knew that it was a promise to let him in and he was ecstatic for that. He did not grasp what did she comprehend from his look and speech but he was pleased with the consequence.
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